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Our facilitator's bring professional experience in diversity along with their personal experience as a multi-racial family member.
Ann is multiracial and grew up in a blended family. This experience motivated her to obtain her degrees as well as identified a mission. Her mission in life is to be an advocate that will massage the hearts of others in order to promote empowerment and social responsibility for various communities by providing education in three domains: Motivation, Self Esteem and Racial identity for all ages. In addition to her academic career, Ann is a Therapist, providing intense therapy to families and their children. She is also a behavioral health technician for a group home for abused and neglected teens. Ann is currently founding a company, Soulistic Colours, LLC that will provide consulting and training programs in diversity and self enrichment programs. Ann is a certified trainer by Childcare Health Program, in the field of serving Biracial and Multiethnic Children and their families in and out of the home. Ann has attended a 10 month Americorps training program on community involvement and empowerment and a 10 week course on Afrocentric and Spiritual Leadership training, which focuses on community organizing. Ann has years of facilitating trainings on Transracial adoption, multiracial identity as well as parenting skills in a blended family. Previously, she has worked for Girl Scouts of Chicago and the Bridge/Transition Program in Champaign, self motivation and prevention programs for youth and adults. During her leisure time she is attends conferences both spiritual and educational on various topics related to the issues of race, youth involvement and education.
Growing up in Chicago, she was faced with various diversity issues, but her parents strongly encouraged a positive outlook. These experiences helped her identify with organizations like Bridge Communications Inc. which recognize the unique background of multi-ethnic people and people who grow up in multiethnic families, as well as promote diversity to everyone. In 2000 she graduated from the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) with a Bachelor of Arts and Science degree with a double majored in Speech Communication and Rhetoric with an emphasis in Pre-Law and understood the importance of writing. During her college years, a professor informed her that she would NOT pass his class (a class that was required for graduation) because she wrote a paper on the "One Drop Rule." Although, she switched professors, this did not stop her from writing about the injustice of laws pertaining to race. She received an A on the paper. These racialized personal experiences continue to motivate her to promote positive diversity interaction. Vera loves being beautifully blended (her heritage consists of Irish, German, English and African American) and looks forward to inspiring others to celebrate their heritage. She aspires to continue to assist Bridge Communications, Inc as a diversity consultant.
Suzanne returned to South Korea at the age of seven for the first time with her adopted parents, and was able to meet her foster parents who raised her from birth to the age of six months. Seeing the importance for adoptees to reconnect with their birth country and culture, her mother became the Co-Director for the newly founded Korean Heritage Camp for adoptees and their families. Suzanne continued to attend this annual summer camp until she graduated high school and continues to work as a counselor ever since. In 1999, Suzanne located her birth parents at the age of 14 and she and her adopted parents returned to Korea to meet them for the first time. Also there was her identical twin sister, older brother, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. This reunification really launched her desire to work in the adoption field.
Trudy R. Tobias, MSW, LSW, and her husband, Ray, adopted their daughter in 1988. She has extensive adoption social work experience and is currently an adoption consultant.. Her pre-adoption social work experience includes work in family services, foster care, and school social work. Trudy has over ten years experience as a home study worker and coordinator, as well as an adoption educator and trainer. She has been a speaker for Resolve and numerous adoption support groups. She has conducted adoption education and training for agency staff on conducting home studies and compliance checks for Foster Family Home Licensing, and has been a contributor to newsletters on adoption. Trudy is the Executive Director for an agency specializing in international adoptions.
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Michelle M. Hughes is part of a multiracial family. She established her own law firm, the Law Offices of Michelle M. Hughes in 1993, where her legal practice focuses primarily on adoption, (working with private agencies, independent adoption, co-parent adoption , DCFS, and related adoptions). She is a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys; a board member of AMEA (Association of Multiethnic Americans); Co-chair of the Confidentiality Intermediate advisory committee for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services; a member of the Chicago Bar Association Adoption Committee; and former Vice Chair of Cook County Bar Association Adoption Committee. Michelle has been involved with multiracial family organizations for over 15 years. Since 1991, Michelle has been organizing and conducting seminars on transracial adoption. In 1994, she co-founded Bridge Communications, Inc. specializing in diversity training, with an emphasis on transracial, international and general adoption education, and Biracial identity. Bridge Communications was featured in the film "Outside looking In: Transracial Adoption in America"(2002); and magazine articles in Adoption Today (February/March 2004); and Chicago Magazine (September 1996). She has been quoted regularly in the newspapers and magazines and has been featured on various radio and TV programs concerning issues of transracial adoption and biracial identity. She is a regular speaker for many adoption educational conferences. Additionally, she has testified before the Illinois legislature on multiracial identity and adoption legislation.
Antoinette M. Ayers is an adoptive parent and transracial adoptee with 13 siblings (9 who are also adopted). Antoinette is the former co-owner in Bridge Communications, Inc. with experience in Diversity Training, Corporate Communications, Executive Coaching and Tele-training. In the early 1990's Antoinette began providing her experience as a transracial adoptee and professional trainer to represent the multi-racial community. She is a speaker for adoption agencies, adoption associations, TV and radio shows. She has a B.S. from Northern Illinois Univeristy, is a Certified Corporate Coach and former V.P. of Training for the World Association of Business Coaches. She is the Founder and current board Chair for the International Stillbirth Alliance 
Cindy M. Bass Cindy is a member of a multiracial family. She and her husband, Dwayne, are raising two biological multiracial sons. She has a BS degree in education from DePaul University and a MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management. With prior teaching experience and an extensive 10-year career in banking, Cindy recently opened her own training consulting firm specializing in employee customer relations. She has knowledge and experience in developing and implementing training programs for products, policies, procedures, sales, management, customer service, and diversity training. As a corporate trainer, she works with companies by facilitating their training material for employee enhancement education. Cindy is also an active member of her community having served on the board of Parents Who Care, and as treasurer for her condominium association.
Ann Clemons has a Bachelor of Science, in human development and is currently completing a Master's in Education, specializing in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Education. As a thesis topic, she is researching the development of
Biracial identity and how that is influenced by the school system.
Vera Clemons grew up in Chicago, IL in a blended family. In 2007, Vera obtained a Masters degree in Public Administration. Her degree caters to public policy, which she now uses to be a positive tool in implementing diversity within the workplace and all public programs.Vera is also a proud board member of AMEA (Association of Multiethnic Americans, Inc.) and will continue to support similar organizations.
Bridgette Glickman, MSW is a multiracial adult who has worked in the social service for over 10 years - mainly in child and family centered programs. Bridgette is a "special needs" adoption specialist and coordinator of a weekly televised adoption feature program. She regularly presents at conferences and has trained many child welfare professionals in adoption. Bridgette is currently the host and producer of a Chicago cable television program, "Multiracial Millennium", that focuses on topics relevant to multiracial families and individuals.
Jacqueline Grossmann and her husband are adoptive parents of two children who are African- American. Her children were adopted as infants and are now in their early teens. Jacqueline lives in a multi-racial suburb outside of Chicago and she works for a Fair Housing agency. She has worked in Social Service for over 25 years and is experienced in running groups and working with individuals. She has received training from the Anti- Defamation League and was a diversity trainer with the National Coalition Building Institute.
Carmen Knight is an international transracial adoptee from Peru. She is currently a Senior at Knox College where she is double majoring in Secondary Education and Social Science Education. Some of her past experiences have been working with an anti-bullying program for elementary schools, working at Culture Camp with teenage adoptees, working on the Loving Day Conference (that was held in Chicago during the summer of 2007), and writing articles on adoption related issues. She has just started becoming active in the adoption community but intends to get a lot more involved in the future.
Gina Miranda is currently faculty at the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration, an affiliate of the University's Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, and a Faculty Associate of Chapin Hall Center for Children. She has taught at the college level for the past 8 years and currently teaches a family systems practice course to masters level social work students. Dr. Miranda's own practice background in child welfare significantly informs her research. Her most recent study focuses on the adult identity work of mixed race (black-white) transracial adoptees, interpreting findings in the socio-political context of race and multiraciality both within child welfare and society at large. Dr. Miranda's publications include exploring ecological models of cultural identity for multiracial populations and approaches to transracially parenting domestically adopted biracial children. Her work ultimately seeks to reframe theories of race, culture, and identity development in ways that have relevance to policy and practice with populations including multiracial persons and interracial family systems both biological and adoptive. She is also both biracial and transracially adopted.
Suzanne Switzer is a transracial adoptee born in Pyoung-taek, South Korea and raised in Denver, Colorado. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. She is pursuing her Masters Degree in Child Development at the Erikson Institute, specifically studying the effects adoption and foster care have on early childhood development. Her personal experience in adoption has motivated her studies. She has spoken on numerous panels at camps and conferences around the country, and written for various publications, sharing her personal adoption story and views on adoption.
Nancy J. Schneider is a transracial adoptee who was born and raised in Germany. She is married to Christoph who is also a transracial adoptee. Nancy has researched and reconnected with her birthparents both in Germany and in the US. Currently, she is home schooling her two biological children, and is an active member of her home schooling group. Previously, Nancy worked in the public schools and as German language tutor at the University of Chicago business school. She co-founded Sunflower Garden, a Waldorf-oriented preschool in Chicago. Prior to her move from Berlin, Germany to Chicago in 1996, while living in Germany Nancy has been a violinist with "The Berlin Symphonic Orchestra" and Ja- Ka-Scha, a Jewish-Russian Folk music ensemble. In Berlin, she also was a member of the Initiative of Black Germans and Blacks in Germany (ISD = Initiative Schwarze Deutsche und Schwarze in Deutschland). ISD is a community organization of the Black German minority. It brings together bicultural and multicultural people of color living in Germany. The main emphasis of its work is parental research.